The 13th Door Bourbon Barrel Aged
Grimm Brothers Brewery

Ruddy, mahogany body; clear; very little carbonation and a faint wisp of a head. Heavy, sweet aroma; charred sugars; dried dates and figs; tobacco. Rich flavors of toffee and candi sugars; brown sugar and tobacco; distinct whiskey presence. Heavy, slick and oily; residual sugar heaviness balanced with a bold alcohol heat.

The bottle and tag info stated the beer is low carbonated, so the lack of a distinctive head is to be expected. The depth and richness, though, is something else! This brute packs a lot of dark, heavy sweetness into the bottle and counteracts things with a bold bourbon barrel roundness to things.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a hazy, dark brown-red with almost no carbonation visible, just a few bubbles. Aroma of dark, dry caramel malt, light bourbon, fresh and dried dark stone fruit, classic English style barleywine profile. Flavor is caramel malt, fresh and dried plums, figs; boozy; finishes with deep bourbon and hints of oak. Hot. Medium bodied and a bit flabby from lack of carbonation. The base beer has all the hallmarks of a fine English style barleywine (don't know what the "German" style is, the malt does not seem different). The barrel influence overwhelms the flavors of the malt and the lack of carbonation makes it taste a bit flat. This probably needs some years in the bottle to mellow out and seems hefty enough to do well, except the carbonation level might be an issue. Nice, but hot and undercarbonated.

Corked and caged 750 ml bottle.

A: Murky dark brown, tiny appearance of foam which ends up a ring around the glass.

S: Bourbon, caramel malt, vanilla, semi sweet overall.

T: Bourbon taste is hefty but so is the caramel malt. Notes of vanilla and chocolate and toffee peek through at various times. As big as the abv is, it could have come across way bigger than it does. Impressively impressive.

M: Lightly carbonated, not overly thick in the body, it has a desirable smoothness almost creamy.

O: Noted as a German Barleywine, I placed it the English BWSA category as the level of bitterness is very low. Excuse me while I sip and savour the rest of the bottle.